NICUs Untapped Source for Organ Transplants
Organs from infants who die in intensive care units could save babies in need.
Jan. 4, 2011— -- Today in the United States 100 babies are waiting for new kidneys, livers and hearts—donor organs that will allow them to grow into healthy children, perhaps even save their lives. Research from a team of Harvard doctors may ease provide new hope for these tiniest patients.
Dr. Anne Hansen of Children's Hospital Boston and colleagues say that infants who die of heart-related causes in the nation's neonatal intensive care units may represent a new source of donor organs for babies awaiting transplantation.
There are currently an estimated 200,000 Americans who are awaiting organ transplants, and 100 of them have not yet celebrated a first birthday.
Read this story on www.medpagetoday.com.
As it now stands, transplantation rules only allow infants and young children to receive transplants from older children or from an adult, which makes it almost impossible for babies to receive transplants since it is very difficult to make larger organs fit into an infant's body.
Hansen and colleagues analyzed records from Harvard-affiliated hospitals and discovered that of192 infants who died over a three-year period in one of three Boston NICUs, 16 would h were deemed candidates for organ donation after cardiac death. Those 16 could have donated 18 kidneys, 14 livers, and 10 hearts.
"The need to increase the pool of organ donors is clear," Hansen wrote in the January issue of the Journal of Pediatrics. For example, through the end of October 2009, there were 441 infants added to the waiting list for organs, compared with just 109 donors.
"The discrepancy between the number of possible recipients and donors underscores the importance of understanding the potential role of an infant donation-after-cardiac-death program in maximizing the donor pool for this population," Hansen and her colleagues wrote.
